Welcome to your guide on navigating your benefits! Whether you're a new employee exploring your options, a current team member seeking to make changes, or someone looking for clarity on eligibility, this resource is designed to help you every step of the way.
Here, you'll find detailed information on how to enroll in your benefits, understand your eligibility, and make necessary adjustments as your life and career evolve. Our goal is to ensure that you have all the tools and knowledge essential to make informed decisions and maximize the value of your benefits package. Let's get started on your journey to understanding and optimizing your benefits!
Employees
Generally, regular faculty and staff with at least a 50% appointment, along with their dependents, are eligible to participate in the university's health and dental insurance.
Temporary Employee Eligibility
- Faculty and staff who receive compensation from the University of Iowa may be eligible for temporary health and dental insurance. The employee must be expected to work 50 percent or more of the time and be appointed for a minimum of six months.
Students
Students must be a registered student attending classes at the time coverage begins and meet the following requirements:
Undergraduate Students
- Undergraduate students must be degree-seeking students enrolled in five (5) or more credit hours. They may only enroll in the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) unless they are health science students, in which case, they may alternatively enroll in the UIGRADCare health insurance plan.
Graduate and Health Science Students
- Graduate and health science students must be degree-seeking to be eligible (no credit hour requirement). Graduate and health science students can enroll in the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) or UIGRADCare.
Retirees
For a retiree to be eligible for health and dental coverage with the university, they must meet the following criteria:
- Age 55+ at the time of retirement from the University
- Age 62+ with ten or more years of continuous benefits-eligible service to receive the UI contribution toward the cost of health insurance.
- At the time of retirement, you do not need to be enrolled in health and/or dental coverage as an active employee to elect coverage at retirement. Retirement is considered a qualifying event for enrolling in health and/or dental coverage, including coverage for family members. The retiree must elect coverage at retirement, with the effective date of coverage being the first day of the month following the retiree's last day of work.
Double Spouse
The Dual University of Iowa employed spouses/partners, and any children may not double insure each other or dependents under the plans where the university contributes to the plans' cost. This includes the health, dental, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance policies—an individual may only be included once under these policies.
Taxes
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has determined that if an employer allows employees to insure dependent children past the age of 26 who do not qualify as the employee’s tax dependents, there is a value that must be added to the employee’s taxable salary when reporting income earned on the annual W-2. More information can be found on the taxable health insurance page. In addition, the university requires information for children over the age of 26 on an annual basis (twice a year for students) to confirm eligibility due to student or disabled status and tax dependent status.
There are also potential tax implications for covering a domestic partner. The domestic partner information page contains more information.